museums

We spent nearly 3 months in Iceland; when I ask the kids what their favorite thing was, the answer is immediate. “Whale watching!” Well, that’s the answer from some of them; some of them didn’t go. They were too worried about getting seasick on the 4 hour ride. But the rest of us tried 3 different trips; here are the tips and tricks we have learned. Knowing what I know now, I think everyone in our family could have enjoyed whale watching!

During our last couple of days in Iceland, we went to a couple of lesser-known museums between Reykjavik and the Keflavik airport. Let’s start with the Fire Museum in Keflavik. When you’re driving to or from the airport, you may see a fire truck mounted on a sign way up in the air. It’s on your left driving from the airport. I didn’t get a picture of it from that side, but that’s the back of the Icelandic Firefighter’s Museum. This is all you’ll see at the main entrance:

After a morning trip to Viðey Island, we headed to another Reykjavik City Museum, Árbær Open Air Museum. Here, they’ve taken a lot of old houses from around Iceland and moved them to one place. This creates the feel of a village from the mid 19th century, give or take.

We spent the day today in Reykjanes Geopark. Haven’t heard of it? Me neither, and I have no idea why. In my opinion, this area should be mentioned in the same breath as the Golden Circle.

The Geopark takes up most of the Reykjanes peninsula, which is where the Keflavik airport is. At least I think that’s how big it is? Maybe the entire peninsula is the geopark? Maybe now I’m starting to see why this isn’t as popular as the Golden Circle … Read more

Today was a day to hit some lesser-known museums in Reykjavik. In particular, these are museums that you might have free admission to, if you bought tickets to other more popular museums.

First, the final museum in the Reykjavik Art Museum. For 1500 krona for adults (and free for kids!), you get admission to 3 museums, as long as you go on the same day. The most well-known of these by far is the one in the downtown harbor area, Hafnarhús:

Starting with … Viking World. Viking World, like everything else in this post, is only about 10 minutes from the airport. But unlike everything else, Viking World opens up at 7 AM most of the year; the early opening is from February through October. That makes them a good option if your flight arrives in Iceland early in the morning. And, they offer a completely unadvertised breakfast special that could make this a very inexpensive visit.

We’ve been whale watching already on this trip. Twice, actually. The first time was with North Sailing in Húsavík, and it was an incredible trip. We highly recommend getting to Húsavík if you can, and going with North. But, we realize that many people won’t be able to make it way up, um, north to North, and so we decided to try a whale watching trip from Reykjavik to compare.

We headed to the Keflavik airport today, and stopped by a couple of the nearby towns, Suðurnes and Garður. Both places are the “wrong” way from the airport if you are heading to Reykjavik, and so I think most people skip them. And while I don’t think there are any “must-see” attractions here, they can be a good introduction to Iceland, and less than 15 minutes from the airport. And less than 10 minutes from each other.

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We are a family of seven (2 adults and 5 kids, ages 6 months-14 years!), taking an extended tour of Iceland during summer 2016. We have been chronicling our preparation and travel here on IcelandWithKids, and are now beginning to compile our experiences into a book to help families better plan their first experiences travelling abroad with children.

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About Us

We are a family of seven (2 adults and 5 kids, ages 6 months-14 years!), taking an extended tour of Iceland during summer 2016. We have been chronicling our preparation and travel here on IcelandWithKids, and are now beginning to compile our experiences into a book to help families better plan their first experiences travelling abroad with children.

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Join us

Subscribe and we'll keep you updated about our book, Iceland with Kids!